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(No Model J.L.HATOH. BICYCLE REPAIRPLUG AND MEANS FOR INSERTING SAME.

Patented May 25, 1897.

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Nrrnn STATES ATENT Brion.

JAMES L. HATCH, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNEASSIGNMENTS, TO CHARLES II. PHINNEY, OF BROOKLINE, MASSACHU- SETTS.

BICYCLE-REPAIR PLUG AND MEANS FOR INSERTING SAME.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 583,438, dated May 25,1897.

Application filed February 8,1897. Serial No. 622,463. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES L. HATCH, of Boston, in the county of Suffolkand State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement inBicycle-Repair Plugs and Means for Inserting the Same, of which thefollowing description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, isa specification, like let ters on the drawings representing like parts.

In use bicycle-tires are frequently punctured, causing them to bedeflated, and before the bicycle can be again used the puncture must beclosed. These punctures are now commonly closed by means of a plug ofindiarubber, the plug having at one end a large mushroom-shaped head orflange, and to use such a plug the puncture must usually be enlarged,and the head of the plug is folded and grasped by pincers, and the endof the pincers holding the bent or folded head is inserted through thesaid enlarged puncture, and then the pincers are withdrawn, releasingthe head of the plug, so that it may expand, and the plug is then drawnoutwardly until the under side of its head contacts with the inner sideof the hollow tire, where it is kept sealed by the action of suitableindia-rubber cement. I have devised a novel plug and have shown it asheadless, but perforated centrally, it requiring a less quantity ofindiarubber for its production, and consequently the cost of the plug ischeapened, and it is more easily handled when closing a puncture, and ittakes up less room in the riders kit. My improved hollow headless plugwill preferably be corrugated or ribbed externally to thus provide aseries of projections and spaces, the spaces serving to receive and holdthe india-rubber cement applied to the other side of the plug to thusfirmly secure the plug in the tire. The open hollow center of the plugmay be put onto the point of a suitable hollow tube adapted to haveforced through it into the tire liquid india-rubber cement, and when theplug on the tube has been forced into the hole or puncture theindia-rubber cement, vimoid, or other equivalent material will bedischarged through said plug and made to flow over the inner end thereofonto the inner side of the tire about the-plug, thus substantiallycovering the inner end of the plug, the liquid rubber cement so suppliedthickening and forming a covering mass for the inner end of said plug.ing been discharged through the plug, the point is withdrawn, leavingsome of the cement, however, in and so as to close or stop the hole inthe plug.

Figure 1 shows in cross-section a tire with my plug in the act of beingput in and secured, the cement being shown as issuing from the hollowpoint on which the plug is held. Fig. 2 shows the tire with the pointremoved and the plug secured in place and its hole closed. Fig. 3 showsa tire with a puncture to be closed. Fig. at shows a piece of tire witha plug in place, but not secured or stopped. Fig. 5 shows a plug in sideelevation; Fig. 6, a plug in top View. Fig. 7 shows the covering-cap forthe hollow point, and Fig. 8 shows several of myimproved plugs as madein a strip. Fig. 9 shows the hollow point enlarged; Fig. 10, across-section in the line n of the handpiece.

The tire A, of india-rubber, is and may be of any usual or suitableshape.

The tire shown in Fig. 3 has been punctured and must be plugged andrepaired be fore it can be again used.

My improved plug B (shown separately in Figs. 5 and 6) will be of alength substantially equal to the thickness of the tire, and the lengthmay vary as desired. This plug has a longitudinal perforation b. Theexterior of the plug is shown as corrugated, as at b, to thus present aseries of enlargements and depressions or spaces, the latter when theplug is inserted in the puncture of the tire serving to retainindia-rubber cement which is applied to the exterior of the plug beforeit is pushed through the puncture Ct of the tire to thus present holdingmeans for the plug. This plug is put onto a hollow point 0 and is pushedthrough the puncture in the tire until its inner end standssubstantially flush with the inner side of the tire, and thenindia-rubber cement held in a suitable collapsible or other tube 0 isforced through-said point and made to flow (see Fig. 1) onto the end ofthe plug, it then running oif the plug The cement hav-- onto theinterior of the tube about the end of the plug, (see Fig. 2,) and thenthe point is withdrawn from the plug, some of the indiarubber cementbeing left in the perforation of the plug to close it air-tight. Thiscement soon becomes strong and tenacious and serves to hold the plugfirmly and air-tight in the tire. The outer end of the plug will be cutoff flush with the tread-surface of the tire, leaving a tire pluggedsubstantially as shown in Fig. 2. The hollow point when not being usedin the plug will be covered and shielded by a suitable cap (1, (showndetached in Fig. 7,) it being turned onto the threads dof a collar. Thisinvention is not limited to the exact shape shown for these plugs incrosssection,nor to the precise corrugations shown, as the same may bemore or less changed in shape and yet come within the scope of thisinvention.

In another application, Serial No. 609,6 l4, filed by me on the 22d dayof October, 1896, I have shown a repair-plug having a head or flange anda corrugated shank, and the claims are therein limited to thecombination, with such a body, of a head or flange.

The hollow point 0 (shown enlarged and attached to the collar (1) isprovided with two discharge-openings for the passage of the liquidcement from the said point.

To insert the plug, the cap may be removed. The plug will be put on thepoint, the plug resting at one end on the top of the collar, and theupper end of the tube will be just a little below said openings.

The point inside the tube and the collar at the end of the tube form avery simple device for inserting the tube. The collar has connected toit a handpiece (Z with which to operate the point when pushing the pluginto place, the said hand piece having at its outer end a socket (Z intowhich may enter the end of the tube 0.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure byLetters Patent, 1S

1. A longitudinally-perforated bicycle-tire plug adapted to be insertedinto a hole in a tire and to have india-rubber cement discharged withinthe tire at the inner end of said perforations, the said cement overlapping the inner end of said plug, and connecting the said inner end tothe interior of the tire, and plugging said perforations, substantiallyas described.

2. An externally corrugated longitudinally-perforated plug to stop apuncture in a bicycle-tire, substantially as described.

3. A headless, externally-corn]gated longitudinally-perforated plug tostop a puncture in a bicycle-tire, substantially as described.

4. The combination with a punctured bicycle-tire, of a perforated,headless plug held in place by india-rubber cement applied to the innerend of said plug, covering it and adhering to the interior of the tireabout the inner end of said plug, and stopping the perforations in thesaid plug, substantially as described.

5. The combination with a bicycle-tire, of an externally-corrugatedheadless indiarubber plug secured in a puncture in said tire by means ofindia-rubber cement covering the inner end of said plug and adhering toit and to the interior of said tire about said inner end, substantiallyas described.

6. The combination with a punctured bicycle-tire, of aneXternally-corrugated longitudinally-perforated plug, said plug beinginserted in said puncture and then secured by means of india-rubbercement uniting the inner end of the plug to the interior of the tireabout said plug, substantially as described.

7. The collar having a shoulder, and ahollow perforated point to receiveon it arepairplug, combined with a handpiece to manipulate said collarin putting the plug into the tire, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

JAlllES L. IIATCII.

IVitnesses:

GEO. \V. GREGORY, LAURA MANIX.

